Indie Pub Journal
PBS MediaShift
I use this page to organize resources that I recommend for each step of the publishing process. (Buy the Self-Publishing Workbook - a great project tracker.) These are resources I have personally used or who come highly recommended by authors I know who have used them. (Please note that there is not a way to get on this list otherwise.)

Visit the Facebook group and the PBS MediaShift articles to announce, discuss and deconstruct all things self-publishing. Click the icons at right to keep up to date and participate.


Mission and goals
Platform and promotion

Your website: Use Yola as your website host and grand central station for promotion activities.

10 Tips for a Winning Elevator Pitch by Rachelle Gardner

Photographers for author headshots

Blogs on author promotion

Graphic designers

Press Releases & Publicity Services - Remember, you get what you pay for. Recommended: Dan Janal's company offers these levels of service with his database of 500,000:
  • PR Leads services for $99/mo or $950/yr puts you in touch with reporters who need to interview authors.
  • Guaranteed Press Releases You write it ($297), or he writes it ($797), and he guarantees 40 hits on media websites sent over PR Newswire.
  • BullsEye Publicity Media Lists is a list of reporters - 1/2 million reporters worldwide. Starts at $197.
Book Marketing Consultants

Digital Marketing Consulting by Laurie McLean, Agent Savant, puts together a package tailored to your book for $500.

Books

Business

Editing and Proofing

Copy and developmental editors

Self-Editing

Book design

Cover, branding, logo designers

Interior Book Designers (InDesign)
Design programs
Author Services Companies

BookBaby is a company started by CDBaby, the world's largest online distributor of independent music, to create EPUB-formatted e-books for distribution to iBookstore, B&N, Amazon, and Sony ReaderStore. Their pricing is reasonable and they offer enhanced e-book production too with availability of audio, video, and graphics. They will convert your doc file to various ebook formats and distribute for a reasonable fee. Competing with Smashwords.

CreateSpace is owned by Amazon and is a direct channel to POD in their store. They will also give you a KDP file ($65) so you can upload your book in the Kindle format. They offer extended distribution to reach all retailers. They are great for one-off proofs or even short runs.

When you're ready to send Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) to reviewers you can use CreateSpace, or a short run printer like 48HrBooks.com.

More and more traditional print companies are expanding to offer author services like editing, book design, short-run printing, and e-book conversion.

Get your book into the system

  • Bowker for ISBN, SAN, bar codes, plus the Books in Print database.
  • Buy your own ISBN so you control the metadata, and can take it out of print, and etc.
Printing


Make your business website stand out with Yola

E-Book Conversion Services

For beautiful, perfect EPUB conversion to iPad, Nook, Kindle and more... pay about $250 and get it all done by:
Selling
  • Use your website to sell copies of your book for maximum profit. Do consider an integrated PayPal-Enabled Store.
  • Sell your e-book on Scribd, who now offers print options from partners.
  • Sell your e-book on Smashwords on the web and to all the various e-book readers.
  • Sell your e-book on Amazon in the Kindle format.

Distribution

  • Smashwords is our best recommendation for e-book publishing for devices that need reflowable text (and PDF) and distribution since it has a formatting engine that creates versions of your book to all the different ebook formats, and they distribute the book with very fair pricing.
  • Take the Smashwords file and create an Amazon KDP file for uploading it as a Kindle book. CreateSpace provides POD services, fulfillment via their store and on Amazon (who owns them)
  • BookBaby converts and distributes to EPUB vendors and Amazon Kindle, too.
  • Scribd is a document sharing site on the web with social features enabled so you can get a following of other writers and readers, too.

Promotion

  • J.A. Konrath's chapter on Promotion is great, in his free book The Newbies Guide to Publishing.
  • Use the features on your website (this one is designed by AuthorFriendly) such as your blog and newsletter, and join forums and participate in social networking on your topic. Look at the site stats to analyze the success of your activities.
  • TalkShoe Radio and BlogTalkRadio are free, browser-based tools that host podcasts.
  • Longtime literary agent Laurie McLean has started an author marketing service - she will put together a marketing plan with you for $500 - you implement it but she gives you the blueprint. Excellent!
  • Bestselling author and PR expert Karen Leland offers traditional and social media campaigns for all budgets including blog and radio tours, online press kits, magazine pitches and more.
  • Search for book bloggers in your genre - woo them, and get a big spike in sales.
Books
Useful Apps for Publicity

Audio books

CDs and MP3 - PodDisc



Book-based apps
Essential apps & tools
Membership Organizations
  • SPANnet.org is my favorite community full of successful and serious self-publishers and lots of group discussions.
  • IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association).
  • SPAWN.org is Self-Publishers, Artists, Writers Network.